Dream Catcher

There are many beautiful
legends tracing the origin of
dream catcher, which can
have a bearing on how the
dreamcatcher works. The Lakota, for
example, believe good
dreams are caught to become
part of the web of life, while
the bad dreams slip through
the center hole. The Navajo,
Ojibwe and Chippewa legends
hold that the web catches the
bad dreams, preventing them
from passing into dreamtime,
while the good dreams slip
through the center. In these
legends, morning sunlight
purifies the web of bad
dreams. Children's dream
catchers fashioned with the
latter legends in mind have a
feather at the center hole so
that the good dreams can slip
down the feather into
dreamtime.

Traditional dream catchers
have eight points where the
web attaches to the circular
hoop, representing the eight
legs of the spider. The spider
is symbolic of female creative
energy, wisdom and learning.
In Native American culture,
dream catchers are
particularly important to hang
over cribs in order to protect
babies from bad dreams
or "bad air" (bad energy).
Dream
catchers are not just for
sleeping, but totems believed
by some to concentrate good
energy and neutralize
negative energy.